Thank you for the…

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on Bill 4. We feel that repealing the, "Climate Change Mitigation & Low-carbon Economy Act" of 2016 or the "Cap & Trade" program, would be the most irresponsible action that the Ontario PC government could take at this point in our history. Climate Change is real and Premier Ford, much like President Trump, is in the category of 'Climate Change deniers,' a very insulting position for them to take in the eyes of the international scientific community -- and towards the general public who clearly do not all understand the serious consequences of uncontrolled Climate Change. The only humane political move right now would be to increase the number of Climate Change controlling policies/acts/plans in order to mitigate the life-threatening impacts of our changing climate -- which we are already beginning to witness around the world. Therefore, we do not want Bill 4 to pass -- it should be stopped to save Ontario a great deal of embarrassment and a failing economic future.

I have had a career in environmental science including post-graduate studies since the late 1980's and have watched our climate become more unpredictable and risky for humans and all life forms on our planet. Hurricane Katrina was a predicted event many years before it occurred as have many climate-related changes have been -- science works. Internationally, scientists are predicting a much harsher future that may threaten our very existence, and this may happen in a much shorter time period than currently predicted too. Science does not provide all the answers but internationally, those who have the educational knowledge and are qualified to make the best predictions of what Climate Change is bringing to our doorsteps, should be taken very seriously. Clearly this PC government is not informed well enough to make decisions like "Bill 4" on behalf of the residents of Ontario. I believe that our lives will be threatened around the globe at a pace that we do not want to test in this manner, so Bill 4 should not pass.

I believe that Hurricane Sandy was a tease of the damage that Climate Change will bring to New York City and other major coastal cities in Eastern North America because science has predicted this as well. The weather pattern we are currently experiencing in Canada today (Oct. 5, 2018) is a creature that has only been seen once before in our nation's history, in 2010. Extreme temperatures of warm in the East and cold in the West are so strange that we have 'unknowns' in our forecasts. What we do know however, is that there is a good possibility that any weather event resulting from this system along the warm/cold colliding boundary area could be worse than previously experienced. Furthermore, we have no idea of how fast weather events are going to worsen across the globe -- only that they definitely will.

Consequentially, ending any policy that is making a difference to mitigate the proven negative impacts of Climate Change is the most irresponsible move a politician could make in this fragile world's current predicament. Premier Doug Ford is playing with lives of the poorest people in the world who have the least recourse to tackle these major problems. Premier Ford should be keeping all environmental, green or Climate Change plans in place and simply improve upon them -- it makes absolutely no sense to go backwards. Moving the wrong direction at this critical time could eliminate any chance that we have to limit the negative impacts of Climate Change enough to allow our own survival on this Earth. It is not debatable.

Therefore, we request that Premier Ford keep the Climate Change Mitigation & Low-carbon Economy Act of 2016/ the Cap & Trade system all in place. Since our Premier is a type of Climate Change denier, we do not trust him to formulate a better plan of his own. He has already dismantled green initiatives and threatened to develop the Oak Ridges Moraine that is critical to ensuring the Toronto area has a source of clean water into the future. Clearly Premier Ford does not have the knowledge to make these kinds of decisions. We feel that it should not be left up to him due the life-threatening nature of Climate Change. Premier Ford seems unable to make an effective and positive decision regarding our weather-related future.

Canada in general is lagging behind many other countries when it comes to our 'green' economy -- an almost $30 trillion dollar industry. We are afraid that Canada's economy will fail in the future as Climate Change progresses because we will be one of the most ill-equipped countries to handle the weather disasters that will befall us. We are not meeting our Paris Climate Agreements because our Prime Minister is more interested in building pipelines than supporting beneficial new green industries. We want Ontario to do our best to set an example for the Federal government, and become a user of 100% clean energy sources at least by 2050 but the earlier the better (we should aim for 2030 because we are so far behind already!). We need to make polluters pay if they are not willing to find a better way to run their industries, and most obviously right now -- we plead for governments at all levels to stop subsidizing or helping fossil fuel companies that are a threat to our future. We are insulted that our taxpayer's dollars are still being used to support an already rich industry with far too much power in this life-threatening struggle. Oil and Gas industries are out-of-date and we have to move away from our reliance on them. We need to transfer all money used to subsidize oil & gas companies into new clean energy company 'heroes', and the research to support them. This would make our province and country a leader in the next obvious lucrative economy sector -- clean energy.

Private people and public organizations are both increasingly moving their investments towards companies offering cleaner energy solutions. Our family has already done this but our political leaders need to climb on board and support us -- we will fail in our effort to limit the impacts of Climate Change if all of our governments don't start taking this matter more seriously. We are embarrassed that Canada claimed to be a green "leader" at the Paris Climate talks because we are now dishonest people in the eyes of the international community. This could also easily present a risk to our lives in other ways, like increasing our chances of becoming a target for worse terrorism, like we've seen happen in the USA. We are wasters who consume far too many resources for the world to cope with -- it is disgraceful that the behavior of Canadians has become one of the biggest problems in the world today. We are trying very hard at home in our daily lives to be responsible and hopefully lessen the impacts of Climate Change but it will all be for not if people like Premier Ford don't support us -- and even work against any positive outcome! He insults our intelligence and threatens the future of our great province by blatantly ignoring that Climate Change is even a threat. Please tell him to start helping by keeping all green policies & acts in place -- do not cut any program that is helping to mitigate, please!

We all need to reduce our carbon footprint on this planet if our species is to survive in a manageable world. Oil and gas companies, and sadly our politicians, make many excuses for planning new pipelines and increasing their production but we all know that money is what drives their actions. Too many people still think that without these dirty fuel industries that we cannot be prosperous. We believe the obvious opposite -- the future cannot sustain the oil & gas industry and we will fall far behind economically compared to countries that are already getting 30% or more of their energy from cleaner sources. Ontario needs to be a leader to the rest of our nation or economic failure is very likely to befall our province and country. We want Ontario and Canada to succeed and be the leaders that we promised to be at the Paris Climate Summit. Our political leaders can't stop lying to us and the world -- but when are they going to realize this? We know our politicians are not doing what we elected them to do -- improve things and take Climate Change seriously. We need their help.

Ontario is already missing out on economic gains in the green sector. Being the last to take this seriously may leave us unable to catch-up at all, and at the mercy of many larger companies that have already captured the market for green energy. Premier Ford says he will create a new Climate Change Plan but if he was serious about this at all, he would have had a new program designed and campaigned using that plan. We definitely have no faith in Premier Doug Ford to get us back on track. We feel he is desperately dragging his feet on Climate Change and all 'green' policy/acts/plans because he is not educated well enough to understand Climate Change and therefore, is not qualified to design a more effective plan than what was in place. There has to be a will to succeed before we can mitigate Climate Change impacts effectively but this Ontario government does not have the will -- or even a plan. It is already too late to start over. It just makes no sense.

It's very disheartening to see our province and country declining economically, internationally, and morally because of science deniers and the obvious power that the oil and gas sector must have over our politicians. Money continues to talk while the world including all Ontarians, will continue to suffer increasingly due to uncontrolled Climate Change. We fear for our children's future as they will undoubtedly be facing much worse environmental disasters than those making poor Climate Change decisions today will ever know.

We ask that you please refuse Bill 4 and rescue our province from a disgraceful reputation and a more dangerous future. Keep all programs in Ontario that help to mitigate the already oncoming negative Climate Change impacts. With all sincerity, we do not condone our political leaders' actions that irresponsibly ignore the most serious threat to our lives today -- Climate Change.